since the first time i saw you
by lizzie bobizzy
Summary: Two people who happen to be stepsiblings but belong to each other in a very unsibling-like way. The slow coming together of Clary and Jace over the course of two decades. ("Clary, since the first time I saw you, I have belonged to you completely."—Jace, City of Glass)


**title:** since the first time i saw you

**summary:** Two people who happen to be stepsiblings but, more importantly, belong to each other in a very unsibling-like way. The slow coming together of Clary and Jace over the course of two decades. ("Clary, **since the first time I saw you**, I have belonged to you completely."—Jace, City of Glass)

_October 2008_

**Jace** – 20 years old.

**Clary** – 19 years old.

_Oh, God_, Clary groaned internally as she woke up. _My head_…_Ugh, what's going on?_ She tried to close her eyes and go back to sleep, but the pounding in her head refused to go away. _The bed is spinning…round and round…_

For a couple of moments, Clary lay there, on her back, staring at the ceiling. Then she became aware of a warm arm laid possessively across her stomach. _Oh no_, she thought. She knew this arm, this tan, toned arm. She didn't even have to look to know whom this arm belonged to.

She turned her head to the right and spared some more moments to study the boy sleeping next to her. He was on his stomach, his head turned to the side on his pillow. Turned to his left, actually. Clary hadn't really noticed until Isabelle had pointed it out the night before, but his body seemed to always be naturally attuned towards hers, always turned towards hers. _Even in sleep_, Clary mused.

She spent a long time studying his golden hair. Was she biased when she thought his behead and the way his messy, wavy locks fell onto his forehead looked awfully sexy, or was it his preternatural ability in looking attractive? Her hands positively itched to brush his hair back, but she wanted to watch him some more while he was unaware, and he was a light sleeper.

She moved on from his hair. Too many peopled focused on that part of him, that and the way his amber eyes looked golden in the sunlight. It was the orange and yellow flecks, Clary knew already, to his already warm brown eyes that lent them their exotic look (not to mention the attractive mischievous glint often seen in them). God knew how many times she had used the excuse of studying his eyes to press up to him and stare at his face.

But not enough people recognized that his hair and his eyes were only parts of a whole. That his sinfully sexy mouth was just as hot, especially when they curved upward in that boyish heart-stopping grin of his. (Even now, with a little drool dripping out of his mouth, Clary thought he was ridiculously cute. Was she biased or could he make even drool look cute? Clary thought fretfully. Who in her right mind thought _drool_ was cute?) That the long rich gold eyelashes that brushed his cheek, his prominent cheekbones, the sharp cut of his jaw all added up to an almost unbelievable beauty. (Clary may or may not have sighed a little in her pondering).

Clary's eyes traveled from his face, down his long neck, along his jutting shoulder blades, and to the curve of his back. _How is he so beautiful?_ she wondered. _How is it possible?_

Wait.

Eyeing the tan skin along the curve of his back meant only one thing.

He was shirtless.

And it was one thing to be wake up next to him in bed, another to wake up next to him while he was missing a shirt and God knows what else.

He moaned and blinked slowly as he awoke—damn it, he was just adorable in everything he did, Clary groused, when she needed to spend hours in the bathroom to get a single "cute" coming her way—revealing those amber eyes she loved, no, admired, Clary corrected.

"Clary?" he mumbled. "Ugh—argh—what the—?"

Clary closed her eyes and took a deep breath, preparing to face the consequences of last night's actions.

Because this was Jace Herondale. Her stepbrother.

_October 1993_

**Jace – 5 years old**

**Clary – 4 years old**

"Come in, come in," said Jocelyn Fairchild, standing at the doorway of her apartment. She smiled at her fiancé, Luke Garroway, then directed her gaze towards the boy at his side. "Hi! You must be Jace!"

Jace stared up at her, eyes narrowed. Jocelyn blinked. It must have been a trick of the light, but his eyes looked almost…golden. "Yeah," he said brusquely, brushing past Jocelyn on his way in.

"Jace—" Luke called out, then thought better of it. He shook his head and stared helplessly after Jace's back. "Sorry about that. He's not good with strangers."

"That's okay." Jocelyn smiled shyly up at him. "I know from what you've said that he's a good kid." It wasn't how she imagined having Luke in her apartment or meeting his adopted son for the first time would go, but all that mattered was that they were here.

Luke looked at her tenderly, as if he were thinking the same thing. "So," he said.

"So." She couldn't stop from grinning widely.

Luke stepped close to Jocelyn. "Guess we should go inside," he murmured. "Introduce the kids to each other."

"Yeah. Tell them to play nice, that sort of stuff."

"I've never really been a fan of playing nice." Luke's eyes glinted mischievously before he swooped down to take Jocelyn's lips with his.

Jocelyn's body melted for him, as usual. Her hands rose to his hair, and her tongue swept along his mouth. "Mmm," she sighed.

After a long heated moment, Jocelyn pulled away, quite reluctantly. "Well. That was unexpected."

Luke smirked. "But nice, right?" he prompted. He leaned in for another kiss.

"Luke!" Jocelyn stepped back. "We really should check on the kids." She quickly left Luke's embrace to head towards the living room, leaving Luke to ponder woefully on a woman's cruel ability to turn her love on and off like a switch.

He turned from the hallway, only to unexpectedly bump into Jocelyn's back, who had abruptly stopped in front of the doorframe to the living room. "What's going—"

"Sh!" Jocelyn's hand whipped around and slapped Luke's shoulder, aiming, presumably, for his mouth. She backed up suddenly, pushing up against Luke—who didn't mind at all.

Luke peered over Jocelyn's head. "Ah."

"—And so I said, 'Prove it!' and he said he didn't feel like it and I was like, 'No, you're just lying; you can't touch the ceiling'…" rambled Clary on the couch to a raptly listening Jace. They sat close together on the edge of the couch in the way children, unaware of intimacy of skin-to-skin contact, often are, bodies pressed together from their shoulder to their knees. Clary's stubby legs swung wildly next to Jace's still ones.

She was playing on her Gameboy Color, obsessed with the latest Pokémon game. Eyes intent on the flashing screen, Clary missed the way Jace's own eyes were oblivious to Clary's game and focused only on her face. His head was bent close to hers, not to peer at console but to study her more intently. His eyes roved over the line of her cheekbone, the curve of her nose, her quick-moving mouth.

His hand played idly with a braid, fingers threading through her hair, sometimes stopping to lightly tug, pulling one side of her head down.

"Hey!" Clary would say, a bubbly peal of giggly laughter escaping her. She looked at Jace, eyes bright. "Stop that!"

Jace would grin back, bringing a boyishness to the pretty face that only enhanced his good-looking features. "Look," he said, distracting her. "A wild Pidgy appeared."

"Oh!" cried Clary, returning to her game, leaving Jace to study her once more. Clary continued her story. "Guess what else, happened today, Jace? I saw Morgan _pick her nose_…"

After a while, she flopped onto Jace's lap, the back of her head on his thigh, and swung her little legs on to the couch, clearly very at ease with the boy she had met for the first time today. She thrust her DS above her face and continued playing this way. "…There's this wall, and it's like 600 feet tall, and I climbed all the way up and walked along the edge…" Clary boasted as she wrapped herself around Jace.

Jocelyn looked back at Luke, who looked shocked. "Jace hates strangers," he said. "And people he knows well. He hates everyone. You have no idea how strange this is."

"Well it's good that they've hit off so well!" Jocelyn said happily. "Especially, since, you know, we're all going to be family soon."

Luke shook his head vehemently. "No, I mean this isn't just hitting off well for Jace. That would be acknowledgement, maybe a nod from my son. This is the regular people equivalent of getting married for Jace!" He continued when she laughed. "You think I'm joking, Joce, but I'm not."

"Well I think this is a good sign. I only hope…"

"What?"

"No, nothing. I'm just being silly. Clary," Jocelyn called her daughter, who was sitting back upright with her side pressing into Jace, her head leaning on Jace's shoulder. "Why don't you give poor Jace some space?"

Clary's head popped up, but before she could move away, Jace's hand reached hers in a flash as he interlaced his fingers with hers. Gripping them tightly with all his childish strength, he called, "I'm good, Ms. Fray. I don't mind. I like having her here."

Clary looked up at him with wide, adoring eyes. "I like being here," she said shyly.

"Okay, kids," said Jocelyn, a little uncertainly. "Well, Mom and Luke will be in the kitchen if you need them," she said, but she fell on deaf ears. Jace and Clary, who had been facing Jocelyn while they were talking, had already turned their bodies towards each other again, both incredibly in tune to the other.

Luke asked, "See? Should we be worried about such a strong attachment already?"

"I'm sure they're fine. They're both good kids, and I have a good feeling about this."

Eventually, it was time for Luke and Jace to return to their home.

"Bye Luke, bye Jace," Clary said cheerfully at the doorway. "See you tomorrow."

Jace looked at her, gaze intense for a five-year old boy. He took a step back into the apartment, up close to Clary, and pressed his lips to her temple, letting them linger for a couple of seconds. After a while, he stepped back. "Bye, Clary," he said softly before turning and walking away. He never looked back.

Jocelyn looked at her daughter, part in amusement, part in wonder, and part in worry. "Clary?"

"Yeah?"

"How did you know you were going to see Jace again tomorrow?"

"Oh, Jace told me. He said we'll see each other tomorrow and the day after and the day after that. We're going to be together for a long, long time," she proclaimed with an air of stating the obvious.

**A/N: Next chapter: Jace POV of 1993 (this year) or 3****rd**** person of 1994? Oh, and the Gameboy Color didn't come out till 1998, which is when the story was originally set, but I decided to bend reality a little.**

**P.S. I need someone to fangirl over Jamie Campbell Bower with me. Any takers?**


End file.
